Volume 5 Chapter 52
by Need_More_SleepVolume 5 + Chapter 52: Danger
The Flying Swallow was now racing across the skies above Fox Hills, having completely left the ground behind.
“You planned all of this from the very beginning?” Wu Tong asked.
“Wu Tong, you were right, you reminded me,” Xia Yi said calmly. “Since the Infinite Evil-Sealing Array was set up along both sides of the railway, then as long as we leave its range of effect, the suppression will naturally disappear.”
The banners that had been arranged along the predetermined route could no longer affect the train once it ascended into the air. With the train’s departure from the railway, the Infinite Evil-Sealing Array lost its function.
Thus, Xia Yi no longer had to endure the array’s suppression, nor suffer the weakening of her physical abilities.
That was why she had just been able to shatter the Dragon-Slaying Flash with the full, unrestrained power of her dragon blood.
That was the simple truth of it.
A dragon like Xia Yi could afford countless mistakes, dragons possessed overwhelming attack, overwhelming defense, and vitality as vast as an ocean.
But for a fox like Wu Tong, there was only room for a single error. No matter how many cuts he had inflicted before, it was meaningless. One decisive strike from Xia Yi was enough to empty his “health bar” entirely.
“Are you saying that while fighting me, you were casting magic the entire time?!” Wu Tong could not accept it. “Is that even a conventional mage? How can you fight so intensely while casting spells, without even chanting?!”
Even Xia Yi herself found it somewhat unbelievable. When the thought first arose in her mind, she had felt it absurd, almost impossible.
To battle Wu Tong while simultaneously weaving magic to construct an icy railway in the sky…
What level of precision in mana control would be required to achieve such a feat?
She had thought perhaps only someone on Xia Lulu’s level could accomplish something like that.
Yet when she heard Wu Tong threaten to slaughter the dragon delegation, the little princess had truly become enraged. She chose to gamble everything, summoning the Rose Staff to assist her spellcasting.
The result had surprised even her.
She succeeded.
Perhaps it was because she had been suppressed by the Infinite Evil-Sealing Array for so long. Fighting under extreme pressure, breaking through her own limits, she now felt as though she had touched the bottleneck of the fourth-tier realm.
“No matter how many times you question it, the fact remains, swordsman of the White Night Sect,” Xia Yi said evenly. “You no longer have even the slightest chance of victory.”
Because he had consumed the holy water of the White Night Sect, Wu Tong could barely feel the pain wracking his body.
Under its influence, he should have been fearless in battle.
Yet at this moment, standing before Xia Yi, a single emotion sprouted within him.
Fear.
Unless one possessed a rare bloodline such as the Nine-Tailed Fox, the gap between an ordinary fox and a dragon was simply too vast.
And as Xia Yi had said,
Now that the Silver Dragon Princess had regained her full strength, her power far surpassed Wu Tong’s. His chances of winning were virtually nonexistent.
“If you refuse to attack, then I shall end you.”
Xia Yi dismissed the Rose Staff and once again employed chant suppression.
A sword hilt materialized in her hand. Her other hand grasped it as well.
As though drawing a blade, she unsheathed an ice-forged katana, her other hand holding an icy scabbard.
Then she assumed a stance that Wu Tong immediately recognized.
Was this not the ultimate sword technique he had poured his life into creating, Dragon-Slaying Flash?
He had used it only once, and she had already mastered it?
For a swordmaster like Wu Tong, this was a devastating blow to his pride.
“You’ve mastered the sword technique I created? On what grounds? On what grounds?!”
“Because I am a Sword Saint. I have long stepped into a realm of swordsmanship that you, even in your entire lifetime, never managed to touch,” Xia Yi replied indifferently.
“……”
Wu Tong’s eyes widened. His body trembled. He was rendered speechless.
Just as he had done earlier, Xia Yi retreated, lowered her stance, sheathed her blade, locked onto her target, exhaled, every motion executed even more flawlessly than his own.
“Damn you dragons!!”
Whether out of rage or bolstered by the false courage granted by the holy water, Wu Tong ignored everything else. He seized a spare katana stored in the carriage. Though his body trembled, he too unleashed his Iaijutsu.
Xia Yi seemed almost to be waiting for him. At nearly the exact same moment,
Iaijutsu!
The train, racing high above the earth, let out a long whistle. Bathed in moonlight, Xia Yi and Wu Tong each unleashed a blade of light, two straight lines hurtling toward one another until they collided.
At that instant, the carriage roof was blasted away by the shockwave of sword qi, tumbling down toward the distant earth. The spreading impact split the clouds in the sky into two halves.
Both fighters froze, maintaining their finishing stances in silence.
“Heh… perhaps I should never have relied on external power…”
After several seconds, Wu Tong spoke first, a bitter smile appearing on his face.
Xia Yi flicked her ice-forged katana, shaking the blood from its blade, and returned it to its scabbard.
When the hilt and scabbard met with a soft click, Wu Tong collapsed to the ground.
The battle was over.
…
…
“Your Highness, are you unharmed?!”
Elly arrived with members of the dragon delegation at the battle-scarred carriage.
Some dragons had already released their true forms and were escorting the Flying Swallow in flight alongside it.
“Yes. For now, I’m fine,” Xia Yi replied, seated and resting.
The others stared in astonishment at Wu Tong lying defeated on the floor and the wreckage left by the fight.
“Your Highness, you resolved the mastermind behind all this by yourself?” Karami asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” Xia Yi answered lightly. “It was a bit troublesome, but only a bit.”
“How remarkable…” Karami murmured in admiration.
“Oh, Your Highness, look! I caught this fellow on the way here!”
Elly tossed a tightly bound foxfolk onto the floor before Xia Yi.
It was none other than the conductor of the Flying Swallow.
“You filthy dragons actually defeated Mr. Wu Tong?!” the conductor snarled through clenched teeth. “But he is not the strongest within the White Night Sect. There are those far more powerful than him…”
“Alright, alright. Spare me the tired villain speech.”
Xia Yi waved a hand, cutting him off.
“We’ll take you back to Greenfield City shortly and hand you over to Yue Liu’s subordinates. You won’t have an easy time of it.”
“Heh. It seems you still understand nothing. Our Lord’s plan has already succeeded.”
“The Lord of the White Night’s plan?”
“That’s right! Our Lord has already gone to the capital of Fox Hills and seized control of the nation!” the conductor burst into manic laughter. “The fox royal family is finished!!”
Xia Yi realized at once that something disastrous was unfolding. A massive upheaval had erupted within foxfolk society, the Lord of the White Night had orchestrated a cataclysm in Fox Hills.
Not good.
The little fox is in danger.
0 Comments